Mice use Quake to teach us about brain cells

In one of the coolest-looking studies ever, Princeton researchers used a …

There are times when you have to admit that mad science does actually exist in the world. Oh, it might not be the same as the material in Frankenstein or Metropolis, but that doesn't mean it isn't cool when it pops up. Princeton researchers have revealed that they used a modified version of Quake to create a virtual world that was used in a study examining cellular activity associated with spatial navigation.

The experiment was run on the rig pictured above, which looks like it's straight out of a sci-fi film. The mice involved had microelectrodes implanted into their brains and ran the environments via an enormous trackball that was suspended via pressurized air (the same way a puck moves across an air hockey table). An optical sensor was then used to follow the ball's rotations, which was then transmitted to the Quake mod.

The study was focused on examining place cells, which increased in firing activity when the mice hit certain spots in the game environment; in the mod, the spots of interest were marked by the striped discs hanging from the ceiling. According to GameCulture, "When the mice ran beneath the a particular disc, the corresponding cell upped its firing rate. Once the mouse had passed, the rate dropped back down to normal." ScienceBlogs has a detailed report about the results of the study, as well as a more in-depth explanation of how place cells work.

Video games being used to aid scientific and medical studies is nothing new, but rarely has a study been so fascinating to watch, even for those of us not conducting the research. Because the study was considered successful, researchers are planning to create more intricate levels in order to study the activity of place cells in greater detail.